GOP Primaries: Outsiders are winning.

GOP Primaries: Outsiders are winning.

Ross Kaminsky over at The American Spectator says that the recent primary results have shaped up to have a pretty solid theme: Americans are serious about taking their country back. After reading this article, I’m starting to believe that maybe Obama’s right — this really is a “Recovery Summer.” It’s a recovery of the American spirit of independence and the American ideals of limited government. It’s a recovery of the principles as established in the Declaration of Independence — our inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, all of which this Congress and this Marxist administration have been hard at work trying to dismantle. Kaminsky has a great roundup of the recent primary results and a good insight into what’s happening in the country. Let’s hope he’s correct.

The first step on that path, according to the newly awakened and re-energized Republican electorate, was to tell the Beltway kingmakers what they can do with their preferred candidates.

In this primary election cycle, few words were as damaging to Republican candidates as “establishment” and “insider.” Ties to incumbent politicians, not least to John McCain, were poison. Also harmful was being perceived as “bipartisan,” in the sense that the word has come to mean: Republicans helping pass liberal legislation while getting nothing in return. Snip –

…Even if (Alaska Republican Senator Lisa) Murkowski pulls out a victory — but especially if she doesn’t — the result reinforces the power of Sarah Palin; she endorsed (Joe) Miller, who spent a mere $200,000 on his campaign, less than one-seventh of the $1.4 million plus spent by Murkowski, who had the fourth-lowest ranking among Republican Senators in the 2009 American Conservative Union ratings. Even a pro-Miller poll paid for by the Tea Party Express showed Murkowski with a 12 point lead just 3 days before the election — and that was much closer than any other poll. The election shows that the anti-incumbent, anti-RINO wave is as alive in Alaska as in the rest of the nation.

On May 12, 2009, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) endorsed Florida Gov. Charlie Crist for the Senate — on the very the same day that Marco Rubio announced his candidacy. On April 29, 2010, Crist, most famous for his hug of Barack Obama while they campaigned for the stimulus, dropped out of the Republican primary to run as an independent.

Florida held those primaries on Tuesday. The victory of black Congressman Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary all but seals a November win for Rubio because Crist needed Florida’s black vote to win as an independent. Those voters will stick with Meek, whom the Democratic Party cannot abandon, thus sinking Crist. Snip –

And in a near-mirror of Alaska’s upset, former health care executive Rick Scott defeated state Attorney General and former Congressman Bill McCollum in Florida’s Republican gubernatorial primary. McCollum was the pick of the entire GOP establishment. It’s partly a symptom of the anti-career-politician mood across the nation, but it didn’t hurt that Scott spent $40 million of his own money in the race. Snip —

The Republican establishment also supported Rep. Rob Simmons in the race for the Chris Dodd senate seat in Connecticut. That didn’t work out so well either.

Simmons, who had a pathetic lifetime American Conservative Union ranking of 53%, lost the primary race earlier this month to Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment and distinctly a political outsider. It wasn’t close, with McMahon beating Simmons by 21 points.

In May, Rand Paul, Tea Party favorite and son of libertarian firebrand Ron Paul, trounced (Kentucky Secretary of State Trey) Grayson by 24 points to win the Republican nomination. Snip –

Grayson had been endorsed by Dick Cheney, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rudi Guiliani. This was a really big wake-up call for the establishment Republicans. Republicans want change – and not Obama’s kind. We don’t want business as usual, go-along-to-get-along professional politicians. We want Americans who put their country first, not their party. And we don’t want those establishment Washington politicians picking our local candidates.

He goes on to talk about Sharron Angle’s upset over Sue Lowden, former state senator and former chairwoman of the state Republican Party. Angle won by 14 points. This shows the electorate’s disgust not only with career politicians, but also with the health care mess. Lowden made the mistake of suggesting a barter system to pay for health care. That became an ongoing joke.

He talks about Rep. Bob Bennett’s defeat in Utah, a 17-year serving congressman who supported an individual mandate-type health care bill along with a liberal Democrat. He discusses many other races, so make sure you read the whole thing. He then puts it all together for us.

What do these rejections have in common? A denunciation of what the Republican Party stood for during the George W. Bush years. A rejection of “moderation” or “bipartisanship,” which are nothing but code words for a spineless and self-serving desire to “go along to get along.” A rejection of an oxymoronic “conservative” form of big government.

What do the winners have in common? Short or non-existent prior careers in government (with the exception of Marco Rubio), a conspicuous lack of endorsements from the NRSC or senior Republican leadership, and some rookie mistakes which, rather than turning off the voters, seemed to endear the candidates to the people as reminders that they are the closest thing we’ve seen in some years to true citizen legislators focused on returning the nation to something which Madison and Jefferson would recognize. But perhaps the most important thing the winners have in common was a convincing message of principle rather than just politics or party…